


Of Dancing and Eternity

by vicalily



Series: KuroTsuki Festival Week! [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Dark Fairy Tale Elements, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-06-04 20:58:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15155489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vicalily/pseuds/vicalily
Summary: Kuroo has been able to see the Fair Folk since birth, and one day he meets a faery who decides Kuroo belongs to him.





	Of Dancing and Eternity

Massage | **Mythology** | Movies

When Kuroo was a child he could see the Fair Folk of the forest. They were beautiful and terrible and utterly unnatural in the most unsettling of ways, but he watched them anyway.  
Sometimes they stared back, crooking their fingers at him, and smiling their wicked smiles from between the trees. But he never went, no matter how much he wanted to or how sweet and honey-like their promises were, because it was a trap. At least, that’s what his mother told him.

His mother could see Them too, except she hated the Fair Folk. She hung strange plants from their doorways, lined the windows with salt and always wore an iron ring on every finger. Everywhere they went she was looking over her shoulder, never resting easy until they were safely back in their home. He wasn’t allowed out of the house without his mother holding his hand, he wasn’t allowed to go to the park or catch bugs or play volleyball with their neighbours. Kuroo was trapped.

Until He arrived.

He was walking home from school, alone because he and Mori-chan had argued, when he bumped into Him, knocking himself down in process. The stranger was tall, taller than anyone Kuroo had ever seen and utterly beautiful. Not pretty like the girls in his class, or cute like the stray cats that followed him home sometimes, actually properly beautiful. His eyes were like honey and his skin was so smooth and pale he could have been sculpted from porcelain. The only thing wrong was his expression: hard like stone and colder than ice, sending an unpleasant shiver down his spine.

Those unforgiving eyes flicked down to him briefly, before settling somewhere above his head (like Kuroo wasn’t even worth looking at). Kuroo tried to be offended, but when He spoke his voice was like the melodic singing of chimes, and he could do nothing but listen in awe. “You can see the Fair Folk.”

It wasn’t a question but Kuroo felt like he should answer anyway. He opened his mouth, but clamped it shut just as quickly. He wasn’t supposed to talk to the Fair Folk. His mum said he was forbidden from even going near them, but it wasn’t his fault the faery ran into him! He gazed up into the dispassionate face of the most beautiful faery in the world, and nodded his head almost involuntary. His mum never said anything about nodding, he reasoned guiltily.

The faery tilted his head in thought. “Then you belong to us. Come, it is time to leave.”

He extended his hand to Kuroo, still sprawled on the concrete, small stones digging into his palms, to pull him up and take him away. Where they were supposed to be going, he had no idea but His fingers were long and delicate, and looked so smooth Kuroo couldn’t help but reach forward to place his palm against the Faery’s.

“Kuroo!” His mother came sprinting towards them, and slapped his hand away from the faery’s with one hand and, with the other, back-handed his faery viciously across the face.

The faery shrieked, metal against metal, and clutched his cheek. Red, livid marks bubbled under his fingers, looking all the more striking against the snow-white expanse of his skin. He shot his mother a look of loathing and hatred, centuries of anger boiled down into one glare, but made no move to attack, warily watching the iron on her fingers.

Kuroo was dragged back by his arm, a good few metres out of the faery’s reach (though he longed to be closer) and pulled behind his mum.

She brandished a metal crowbar, which she had pulled from her bag, at the faery. “Leave my son in peace, demon!”

Kuroo whimpered quietly. His mum may have been paranoid and quick to anger if he broke a rule, but he always had the sense it was out of fear for him. That was no longer the case. Peeking up at her face all he could see was rage. He wondered what the Fair Folk had done to make her so angry.

Lowering his hand, the faery smirked cruelly and Kuroo trembled. If ever a wolf were to smile at its prey, they would look exactly like the faery did then.

“He is not yours, mortal. We will take him to his rightful home in Faery.”

“Never!” She hissed in response, fiercely clutching at Kuroo until it hurt.

A smirk slid across his lips, one of assured victory. “Oh you will give him to us willingly, mortal.” He then looked directly at Kuroo, halting his heart in his chest, and spoke to him gently. “If you should ever need me, Kuroo, speak my name aloud and I shall come to you.”

“But I don’t know your name, mister.” His mother hissed at him to be quiet, but the faery paid her no heed.

The same feral grin curled his mouth and Kuroo’s heart went from stuttering to pounding impossibly fast. “You will.”

And with that, he blinked from existence, disappearing from Kuroo’s life for ten long years.

* * *

They moved around a lot after that. Every month or so they’d pack up their belongings and move far away, running from the faery that forever chased them. Sometimes he would find them immediately, standing silently across the street, other times it was weeks before they saw his pale face illuminated by a bolt of lightning outside their living room window. He never hurt them though. Kuroo had the sick feeling this was a game for Him.

Kuroo’s mum also decided he should learn to protect himself. No use hiding him away now that one of the Fair Folk was stalking them across the country. So Kuroo wore an iron necklace, kept bread in one pocket, salt in the other, and stored enough St John’s Worst to strangle a kelpie in his bag. His mother thought that would be sufficient in warding away the Fey, but no matter what precautions she took, nothing could stop the dreams.

Every night when he closed his eyes He would be waiting for him. Sometimes they talked and strolled through lands of twisted trees and still lakes, hungry Fey lying in wait beneath the water or in the shadows of the canopy. Other times they danced in a grand open air ballroom, the hot summer air smelling of grapes and berries too exotic to name, drawing each other closer with every step. It was blissful. The dull colours of his world paled in comparison to the glory of Faery, but he ploughed through the day, his thoughts consumed wholly by the magic of his dreams. Sometimes he forgot the street where he grew up, but he could always remember with haunting clarity the colour of His eyes.

He lived so fully in the other world that he barely noticed himself wasting away, so gradual was the change.

In the dreams He offered Kuroo faery wine, and the taste was so sweet he wanted to drink nothing else. He was offered berries so exquisite the thought of eating human food made him gag, and so quietly, slowly, Kuroo began to fade. Healthy colour was leeched from his skin, his hair stripped of its shine, and his eyes grew dull with the weight of exhaustion.

Then one day Kuroo collapsed at school, unable to move his body any further, and woke in a cold hospital bed. His throat was tight and his eyelids felt swollen and dry, but there was a smile on his lips. They had gone dancing again.

Someone shifted and he pried his eyes open. It was his mother, staring silently out the window, jaw clenched, and chin held high. She turned to meet his gaze and suddenly her eyes were sad. He noticed there were tear tracks on her cheeks.

“Why didn’t you tell me you dreamt of Him?”

Kuroo thought she would be accusing, but she seemed only resigned, maybe a little tired. He wanted to give her an honest answer, but he wasn’t sure what it was. All their time together was so bright he was blinded to the ordinary. It was less he wanted to keep it a secret, it was more he was unaware it had become one. He lived so entirely for the night he forgot about the life he used to live.

Tears starting to burn his throat. He wanted to tell her he was sorry, but the words rasped against his throat, and refused to come out. How could he have neglected his mother like that? How could he have been so enraptured by the Fey, knowing they were everything his mother hated?

She smiled, eyes glassy. “It’s okay, I know.”

He threw his eyes around his mum, squeezing as hard as his body would allow. “I love him.” He choked.

His mum laughed. “You think I don’t know that? Silly boy.” She hugged him harder, then sighed wistfully. “I should have known you’d turn out like me.”

Kuroo pulled back, shocked, and his mum laughed again, bright and joyful, filling the room. She had tears in her eyes but in that moment they understood each other like never before, love spilling between them like liquid sunlight.

There was a brief silence where they both came to the realisation of what had to happen next. She stood up slowly, hands sliding off of Kuroo’s shoulders.

“I think I’m going to go get a coffee. Do you want anything, Kuroo?”

He swallowed thickly. “You’ve already given me everything, mum.”

They shared a wobbly smile, and she pressed a trembling kiss to his temple. “Be happy, Tetsu.”

“You too, mum.”

When she came back to the hospital room, the bed was empty, but world’s away, though she could not see, two Fey creatures danced on forever, twirling and laughing eternity away.

**Author's Note:**

> Even I'm not sure if Tsukki loves Kuroo or is just obsessed... anyway, day 2 complete. Any criticism welcome :))


End file.
